


happy anniversary

by helenfightslikepoetry



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, and they totally make out, they are on a DATE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27699934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helenfightslikepoetry/pseuds/helenfightslikepoetry
Summary: "It had been five years since they first met and started dating, and three years since they got married. With the recent events - Malcolm Fade, the High Warlock of Los Angeles, turning out to be a cult leader and mass murderer, some nasty necromancy of which Helen’s younger siblings somehow managed to be in the centre of, them returning from Wrangel Island to a near state of Civil war - the two anniversaries were the last thing on their minds. But now that things had settled down, when they were nearly back to  normal again, Helen had brought it up. Why shouldn’t they celebrate both anniversaries now? There was precious little to celebrate anything when the political atmosphere was as tense as it was, so shouldn’t they take a day for themselves and celebrate the fact they were together?"Heline on a date night. Mostly fluff because they are so freaking cute together.
Relationships: Helen Blackthorn/Aline Penhallow
Kudos: 11





	happy anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> just a little ficlet i wrote because i need more heline in my life. and frankly, who doesnt?

It was a nice restaurant. It wasn’t too fancy or too cheap; it was perfectly cozy and yet elegant. A perfect place to spend an anniversary.

It had been five years since they first met and started dating, and three years since they got married. With the recent events - Malcolm Fade, the High Warlock of Los Angeles, turning out to be a cult leader and mass murderer, some nasty necromancy of which Helen’s younger siblings  _ somehow  _ managed to be in the centre of, them returning from Wrangel Island to a near state of Civil war - the two anniversaries were the last thing on their minds. But now that things had settled down, when they were nearly back to normal again, Helen had brought it up. Why shouldn’t they celebrate both anniversaries now? There was precious little to celebrate anything when the political atmosphere was as tense as it was, so shouldn’t they take a day for themselves and celebrate the fact they were together? 

The smile on Aline’s face had been slow and contagious when Helen had suggested it, radiant in a way she seemed to smile for Helen only. She’d got up from the desk in their office, kissed her and told Helen to surprise her. Which was exactly what she’d proceeded to do. She’d made sure to find a day that both Mark and Cristina were at the Institute - she wanted to be able to enjoy their night together without any kinds of worries, so there was no way she was leaving Mark in charge by himself - and booked a table at an Italian restaurant that had received good reviews and was within a walking distance from the place she had wanted to take Aline to for years. 

"You know you're my favourite, right?" Aline said, laughing at the pout on Helen's face after she'd described how much fun she'd had with the younger Blackthorn kids when Helen had been to an emergency Conclave meeting the other day. Mark and Cristina had joined them too but by the time Helen had returned from the meeting, they had left the beach and she would have been too exhausted to join them anyway. 

"I better be," she retorted seriously, but Aline knew the sulking expression wasn't real. 

"Well, you're the one I married, so I thought it'd go without saying," she said with a wink and swallowed the last forkful of her pasta carbonara. 

Helen's pour melted into a soft smile. She chuckled and bowed her head. When she raised her eyes, she was still smiling. 

“I still can’t believe it’s been five years,” she said dreamily as she gazed into her wife’s brown eyes. She was wearing a short, emerald green halterneck dress with a silver glitter belt. It was more “bling bling” than she was used to seeing on her, and she looked absolutely lovely. Her black hair was down and her makeup was discreet, save her lips, which were painted a very attractive shade of red. 

“I still can’t believe you thought Alec was an evil cult leader,” Aline countered playfully and took the last sip of white wine from her glass. 

“Technically, I didn’t think he was  _ the _ leader,” she corrected, “But you gotta admit it was suspicious! The disasters kept following him everywhere he went.” 

Aline laughed. “It kinda was. It brought you to me, so even if it was a little uncomfortable for him I find it really hard to care,” she said and reached her hand across the table and took her hand in hers, squeezing it gently. The spark in her eyes dimmed a little and her gaze softened as she stared at her. “You’re so beautiful.” 

Helen couldn’t suppress a smile. No matter how many times Aline looked at her like that, or called her beautiful, she always went weak in the knees.

“So are you,” she voiced her own thoughts and wondered if it was totally inappropriate to kiss Aline right now, in a crowded restaurant. She quickly dismissed the thought and leant over to place a lingering kiss on her lips; she was infatuated with her wife and was not about to hide it, so too bad if it bothered someone.

"You know what?" Aline murmured against her mouth. She pulled back a few inches; her eyes had gone a darker shade of brown. "I bet you'd look even better without your clothes on."

Helen's mouth went dry. She knew she was blushing, could feel her heart suddenly beating harder against her chest. "Aline," she warned her, her voice a little bit more shaky than she would have preferred. 

But Aline simply smirked at her and ran her tongue slowly across her lower lip. It drove her crazy, and she knew exactly what she was doing. She then eyed the empty plates and glasses between them and seemed to decide to take mercy on her and stop messing with her for now. 

“You ready to go? I think we should vacate the table, there’s a very sour looking couple who have been standing by the doors for a good ten minutes and I don’t fancy getting thrown out of here for hogging the table. This is a nice place,” she said, glancing around the restaurant approvingly. It was impressive how quickly she had gone from shamelessly suggestive to perfectly appropriate. 

“They wouldn’t throw us out, that man over there has been here for longer than we have,” Helen chuckled and tilted her head vaguely to her left, but took her bag from under the chair nonetheless. She still had plans for them and they’d better get going anyway. “I’ll just nip to the bathroom and we’ll be going, that okay?” 

“Sure. I’ll get the bill?” Aline suggested. 

She was standing up from the table but stopped abruptly and frowned. “Wait, you don’t think I’m gonna let you pay?” 

“Why not?” 

“Because I asked you out!” she laughed and grabbed Aline’s wrist before she could reach into her own bag. “It’s my treat.” 

Aline raised her eyebrow, pointing out that celebrating their anniversary was hardly comparable to a casual date. They usually shared the bill, but Helen was adamant. Tonight she would treat Aline. So she got the bill, paid for it and then they headed for the bathroom. 

She had only intended to check her makeup was still intact, and that the loose bun she had pulled her hair into still held up. But then Aline pressed a soft kiss against the side of face, and another on her jawline, then on her lips. And before she realised it, what had begun as a chaste kiss had escalated into a full blown make out session and they stumbled through one of cubicle doors, Aline hastily locking the door before returning her lips on hers, their hands roaming each other’s bodies with fervour, sneaking underneath pieces of clothing. 

They only stopped when they heard the bathroom door open and somewhere to their right another cubicle door was closed and locked. Aline, who was still pressed tightly against her, pressed her finger against her lips in a signal for her to stay quiet. Helen's attention was drawn to her soft lips and it was then that she noticed the severe damage she had done to her bright red lipstick.

She clasped her hand on her mouth and looked at her with amusement in her verdigris eyes. She giggled silently, both at the smudged lipstick on Aline’s lips and the confused expression on her face when she had no idea why Helen was laughing at her. 

"Did you bring your lipstick with you?" she asked as soon as the door closed, signalling they were alone in the restroom.

"Yeah. Why, how bad is it?" Aline replied, instinctively running her fingers across her mouth, before rummaging through her purse in a search of her lipstick. 

"It looks what it would look like if you let Tavvy do your makeup," she giggled and gently took the lipstick from Aline's hand. "Here, let me." 

Aline gladly obeyed, staying still as she let Helen fix the mess she had created. She thought about getting a lipstick that would hold up against kissing, but when Helen was this close to her, applying colour to her lips and occasionally stroking them with her thumb as she went, she quickly abandoned the idea. She would happily let her ruin her makeup every time they went out if it resulted in them in this position. It was kind of hot. And she loved the intimacy of it.

It seemed as if Helen felt the same, judging by the blush on her cheeks. Her lips turned into a smirk and her eyes gleamed mischievously when they made eye contact, but Aline could see right through her. She was loving it as well. 

"I’m sorry about ruining your lipstick, but I couldn’t wait any longer to do that,” she smiled apologetically as she added the finishing touches. Aline simply chuckled as she tried not to move too much. She had been thinking about kissing Helen the whole evening as well, and they were barely halfway through their anniversary date.

“There you go, good as new,” Helen said and returned the lipstick to her. She tossed it back into her purse and looked at her reflection on the screen of her mobile phone. 

"You should ruin my lipstick more often," Aline said flirtatiously and held back from kissing her in a fear of smudging her lips again. Helen had light traces of her lipstick on her lips as well, but she decided not to do anything about it. It was kind of sexy, too. 

“Oh I think I might, sooner than you think,” her wife winked and grabbed her hand before turning the lock on the cubicle door and leading them through the thankfully still empty restroom. She had enjoyed their little escapade in the restaurant’s toilets, but they were far too classy to make out in a public bathroom and have people witness it.

They exited the restaurant hand in hand. Helen had still not told her where they were headed next, and she was more than happy to let her take the lead. 

“Are you finally gonna tell me where you’re taking me?” she asked when they had walked for fifteen minutes and she was still none the wiser.

“Well, you said you wanted to do something we couldn’t do on Wrangel Island,” Helen started, swaying their hands between them and turning to look at her. “And I thought about the beach at first, but even if you didn’t spend your time sitting on the beach, there  _ were _ beaches there. So then I came up with something equally unoriginal,” she continued bashfully and nodded her head ahead of them to indicate they were arriving in their destination. 

It was getting darker so the lights in different colours were reflecting on the ocean quite spectacularly. The massive ferris wheel and rollercoaster dominated the view in front of them. 

Santa Monica Pier. 

_ Of course.  _

She cast an amused glance at her wife, who was looking slightly embarrassed now that they were there. “I know, it’s super cheesy and not nearly as fancy as our fifth anniversary should be-” 

“Oh no honey, I love it,” Aline smiled and closed the distance between them, kissing her chastely. “There was hardly one village on Wrangel, so you delivered perfectly. Besides, I don’t need fancy,” she added in a more serious note. “As long as I get to spend my anniversaries with you, I really don’t care how we spend them.” 

Helen smiled at her gently and blinked away a tear that threatened to escape her eye. “So you don’t mind riding these silly rides with me on this fine October night?” She laughed and tugged her even closer by her hand. 

“I’ve never been to Pacific Park before. You promised to take me here five years ago but you never did,” she replied jokingly, and Helen felt a pang of guilt on her chest. “Though we might not want to ride all of them,” she added more seriously and turned to look at the amusement park. “I’d be dreadfully upset to throw up all over you when we’re celebrating our anniversary.” 

Helen giggled and started walking towards the Pacific Park, dragging Aline behind her. “That’s a valid point. Maybe just the tame ones, eh?” She proposed, stopping for a second to give her another quick kiss. 

“Happy anniversary, baby.” 


End file.
